Romeo and Juliet

The dramatic arc of the most famous love story in the Western literary canon is well known even to those who are not well-versed in literature and drama, but there is still much to learn from this work even for the literati, as we see in the Colorado Ballet's brilliantly choreographed (Derek Deane) and staged (Ivan Gil-Ortega and Ugo Ranieri) production.

Yosvani Ramos as Romeoand Sharon Wehner as JulietPhoto: Mike Watson

Against the background of young lovers star-crossed by the hostilities between their families, Deane has provided an elegant reminder of the playwright's larger point that is generally lost in the personal tragedies of those closest to the action: Romeo and Juliet is not only an argument against arranged marriages, it is also a feminist's portrait of Juliet's struggle to break free from her society's treatment of women.

What is often perceived as impetuousness on Juliet's part, for refusing to follow her father's instructions to subsume her will to his, and that of his designated husband for her, Paris (Christopher Moulton), is, in Sharon Wehner's luminous performance, the first act of liberated womanhood for a marriage-eligible teenager. Remarkably, Wehner, who is approaching the end of her 22 years with the company and her pending retirement, is the most convincing 14-year old in our experience of many productions over the years, and we have seen some good ones.

Sharon Wehner as Julietand Yosvani Ramos as RomeoPhoto: Mike Watson

One of the principal reasons is that this is a ballet, not a play, which frees Wehner to lay bare the subtext of the role, that is, Juliet's emotions, via her physical expression in both the classical and surprisingly modern passages of Sergei Prokofiev's transcendent score (kudos to Maestro Adam Flatt and the Colorado Ballet orchestra). We cannot emphasize enough the insightfulness of Deane's choreography in solving the complexities of the gifted Russian composer's composition and the episodic nature of the original script for the stage, which, despite being streamlined for ballet, still contains 13 scenes. The potential for choppiness, with so many breaks in the action, is avoided in this production by the spectacular scenery (Roberta Guidi di Bagno), courtesy of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, which includes a detailed sectional curtain that emulates Elizabethan period tapestries, and which is raised and dropped in various pairing combinations.

Sharon Wehner as Julietand Yasvani Ramos as RomeoPhoto: Mike Watson

In addition to Wehner's crowning work (which takes our memory all the way back to her wonderful cowgirl in Rodeo, written by Aaron Copeland for Agnes de Mille, performed by the company in 2004), her chemistry with Yosvani Ramos, as Romeo, is terrific. Here are two kids falling in love for the first time. What could be more exhilirating than that! They convey this exuberance in all of their scenes, including the masked ball at the Capulets, the famous balcony scene, the bedroom scene, where we know this is the last time they will both be conscious and alive with each other, and in the final scene in the Capulet Crypt, to mention a few. Ramos' acting, like Wehner's, is fully expressive, and his movement is joyous and strong, while he lifts Wehner with elegance and ease.

The scenes in the Market Square are filled with complex, beautifully choreographed gatherings of the townfolk of Verona, as well as the rough and tumble skirmishes between the Capulet boys, Tybalt (Francisco Estvez) and his aids (Joshua Allenback and Bryce Lee), and the Montague boys, Romeo (Ramos), Mercutio (Ariel Breitman), and Benvolio (Jeremy Studinski). The danced fight choreography is top-notch. The full ensemble street dances are topped off by the Harlots (Francesca Martoccio, Morgan Buchanan, and Kristine Padgett), whose suggestive moves create a sexually charged atmosphere that drives the testosterone and adrenaline infused young males to battle.